Alone in the Dark
by Ablivion
Summary: Multi-chapter fic. The Architect of The Shield, Seth Rollins, keeps the peace within The Shield, so how will Roman and Dean keep from killing one another without him? Find out if they can to learn to get along in order to save a missing Seth from unknown enemies. This might be AU, but with no original characters involved. Rating is just to be on the safe side.
1. Chapter 1

**Might as well get the usual formalities out of the way first: though I wish, these characters are not my own creations, however, what I put the poor guys through is. Also, rating is just to be on the safe side. There is some violence, but nothing in-depth nor explicit, and there is no slash, just the boys being friends. Lastly, a lot of Dean fiction that I've read has Dean cursing a lot, which I think fits him well. However, as a rule, I don't curse in everyday life, and therefore, I don't in my writing either. If Dean's dialogue seems to be missing something, it's probably just missing a few f-bombs lol.**

**This is my first wrestling fanfiction (only my second fanfiction ever). I was really nervous about writing it since I know how picky some readers in this genre can be. Therefore, any constructive comments/reviews would be greatly appreciated, and may help give me the confidence boost I need to continue writing fiction :)**

**Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story!**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"I'm so sick of you always thinking you're better than us!" Ambrose yelled, motioning not only to himself, but to Rollins as well. Dean's anger was not only evident in his voice, but also in his red face and twitchy body movements. Reigns merely smirked and shrugged his shoulders as if to say he was just telling the truth–he _was_ better than Ambrose and Rollins. Dean balled up his fists, and the only thing that stopped those fists from meeting Roman's smug face, was Seth's interference. The slender, but muscular man, the youngest of the three, squeezed himself between the two heated men. "Guys, this has to stop! We're going to keep getting torn apart if we can't get on the same page," Seth pleaded, tired of the constant bickering.

Seth was easily brushed aside by Ambrose, "Well why don't we just have the 'All Mighty' Roman protect us?" he asked, goading the big man on.

"Seth, I would protect. You, on the other hand, I'd have to think twice about," Reigns replied with a chuckle.

Ambrose, who lunged at Reigns once more, was stopped again by Rollins' intervening arms. "Please, can we at least get to our locker room without killing each other?" Seth asked imploringly. All three men were sweaty from their match, which ended only a few moments ago, and Seth hoped that once they were cleaned up and changed, perhaps both hard-headed men would be more reasonable.

"Psh, fat chance," Ambrose muttered.

Reigns shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not going back to the locker room just yet...I'll see you guys later though," Roman said as he turned and walked away, ignoring Rollins' urgings that the two men reconcile first.

"Yeah man, I'm out of here too. I'll see you in a bit," Ambrose said, turning a deaf ear to Seth as well. Before he knew it, Seth was left standing in an empty hallway by himself, trying to reason with thin air. After a few exasperated minutes of silently raging, Seth promised himself that the next time the three men were together in the same room, he wouldn't let them back out again until they'd settled their differences once and for all.

Shoulders slumped in momentary defeat, Seth turned to make his was back to his locker room, but collided with something unexpected...something solid and muscular. Then, the lights went out. There was no time to call for help, nor time to make a plan. Rollins simply fought with pure instinct in the pitch black darkness. Punches came from all directions and landed in all sorts of places on Rollins' body. Ignoring the pain, he fought on, trying his best to find a wall to put his back against for at least a little protection.

"Seth?!" It was Ambrose calling for him in the darkness. Dean never liked anyone knowing about his sensitive side, but when it came to Rollins, he just couldn't blow off his best friend like he had earlier. He'd felt bad about leaving Seth flustered, and on his own, after his and Roman's fight. Seth would never admit it to the other two members, but Dean had known Seth long enough to understand exactly how being the peacekeeper between Roman and Dean took a toll on the younger man. Seth put on a brave face, but Dean knew it tore his friend up every time the other two fought. He'd come back to check on Seth and apologize, but in a dark hallway of the arena was not how he had expected to make his apology.

"Dean...umph, run!" Seth managed to yell, though the wind had been knocked out of him mid-sentence by a giant fist. Rollins swung wildly, aiming for nothing in the darkness, but hoping to collide with as many attackers as possible. A few time he felt his punches connect with heads, but other than that, he wasn't sure who was taking more punishment, them or him. Either way, his only goal, at this point, was to give Ambrose time to find his way through the darkness and out of the fight.

Finally, Seth got a good grip on the front of someone's shirt, and as he drew his fist back to punch his attacker as hard as he could–in what he hoped would be their face–the lights came back on, momentarily stunning him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ambrose shouted in alarm, trying to block his face from Seth's looming fist. Startled, Seth let Ambrose go.

"Sorry man," was all Seth could say as he leaned against the wall, slowly sliding to the floor with a grimace. Ambrose was torn whether to protect his fallen brother or get help. The second opinion seemed more practical, so Dean burst off, finding an outlet for his pent up energy in running to get help.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When Ambrose was finally able shut Reigns up long enough to tell him Seth was hurt, the two met with their beaten comrade in the trainer's room. "What happened?" Reigns asked, taking in the different cuts and bruises on Rollins, paying particular attention to Seth's now very black and swollen eye.

"I don't know. After you both left, I turned to go to the locker room, and then the lights went out. After that, all I felt were punches," Seth answered around a swollen lip.

"Any idea who it was?" Reigns asked, his mask of calm firmly in place, but struggling to contain his worry for his best friend.

"No," Seth said weakly, placing an icepack gingerly to his face, "I didn't see them before they started beating up on me."

"You said 'they.' How do you know it was more than one person?" Reigns asked.

"Well, unless the guy had more than two fists, the hits came too fast to be from just one person."

"I don't care if it was one guy or twenty, we're going to pay them back for this!" Ambrose vowed, adding a few swears under his breath in a passionate outburst for revenge.

"You guys can't go after them now," Seth said, barely able to conceal the edge of pleading from his voice.

Reigns looked confused as he asked, "And why not?"

"Yeah, why not?" Dean chimed in, "we can't let someone jump you and get away with it. One of us could be next if they think we're easy targets when we're by ourselves," Dean said, surprising even himself by how logical he sounded.

Reigns nodded his head, finally agreeing with Ambrose for the first time in over a month. Both men turned to leave, intent on stalking their prey, no matter where in the arena they were hiding.

"Please," Seth whispered weakly. Even after all their time together, neither Dean nor Roman had yet to build up an immunity to Seth's puppy dog eyes trick; it got them every time. Reigns and Ambrose's shoulders slumped in momentary defeat. However, they traded looks with one another, silently agreeing to wait until Seth was given some pain pills to knock him out before they went hunting.

The only problem was, Seth refused the pills, insisting that he was fine without them, even though the lines of pain on his face plainly signaled otherwise. Seth knew that Roman and Dean would go looking for a fight as soon as the pills kicked in and knocked him out. Therefore, he would have no part in them. Granted, if Roman and Dean would have known for sure that that was the reason Seth didn't want any pills, the medicine may very well have been shoved down Seth's throat by one of his friends anyway, whether he really wanted them or not. But without proof of Seth's motives, the other men could only hope that their friend would concede soon—for his own sake, if nothing else...Thus, annoyed and tired of arguing the pills' usefulness to Seth, all of the men in the room settled with Seth taking the pills home with him, to use when he felt they were necessary. Reigns accepted with pill bottle from the trainer. "Remember to stay close to him when he takes these, they're strong. You know what happens...," the trainer said quietly under his breath to Reigns. Reigns responded with a solemn nod before turning to help Ambrose assist Seth through the arena and to their car.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Reigns opened the hotel room door as Ambrose carefully helped a limping, grimacing Seth into the room. Setting him down carefully on the bed, Ambrose stood back. "I'm going to grab some food for us, what do you guys want?" Ambrose asked, trying to think of something helpful to do for his friends. Reigns shrugged, "I'll take anything, you know what I like."

Roman grabbed a towel and shut the bathroom door, oblivious to Dean's reply of whether or not he had ever actually paid attention to what his partner ate. Ambrose just sighed at the bathroom door before turning to the still form of his other best friend. "And you Seth?" he asked.

Seth answered with his eyes closed, exhausted and hurting from the night's events, "I'm good man, I don't want anything."

Ambrose tried to soften his voice, taking a page out of Seth's playbook when the youngest Shield member tried to reason with his two angry Shield brothers, "You've gotta eat something Seth. You can't take meds on an empty stomach."

Seth sighed, Dean was right of course. "Fine, soup."

Ambrose couldn't contain the snort that escaped as he replied, "Soup? Really? Since when does a member of The Shield eat soup?"

"Since his 'brothers' left him to fend for himself, and since he got punched in his stomach more times that he could keep track of tonight," Seth said with more edge in his voice than he had meant to let escape through the pain.

Ambrose raised his hands in surrender, "Geez, alright, sorry...soup it is."

Seth opened his mouth to apologize, to explain that it was the pain giving Dean attitude, not him, but his unvoiced apology was met with the slam of the hotel room door. Seth sighed again, regretting it instantly as his midsection lit up like it was on fire. Groaning, Seth tried to concentrate on something else, anything else that would take his mind off of the pain. He settled on trying to figure out how he would get out of his ring gear on his own, but before he could come up with a plan, he found himself drifting into a fitful sleep, lulled by the sound of Roman's shower.

* * *

Reigns felt guilty as he let the scorching water rush down his back. He felt guilty for letting his best friend get jumped. He even felt guilty about taking a shower instead of watching over Seth while Dean went on a food run. If he was really honest with himself, he was hiding in the shower. He couldn't stand the pained looked that he imagined on Seth's face as the smaller man squirmed in the hotel bed, trying to find the least painful resting position while Roman could only watch, his guilt mounting as he stood guard. Yeah, he was definitely avoiding that situation. Dean was right, if Roman really was the leader of The Shield now, he was doing a terrible job so far...


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Finally, unable to stand the now cold water any longer, Reigns exited the shower, toweled off and got dressed. Reentering the room only served to tighten the icy guilt he felt clenching his stomach. Seth was black and blue...but that was only his arms and face. Roman had no idea how many more bruises were popping up under Seth's ring gear.

Settling himself quietly in a chair across the room, Reigns only had time to get moderately comfortable before Ambrose burst back in. Reigns watched Dean enter with food bags balanced precariously in one hand, as the other tried to lock the door. As Dean turned from the door to head towards the room's table, Reigns shot daggers at him for being so inconsiderately loud. Reigns only kept from hitting Dean because thankfully, Seth had stayed asleep. Ambrose ignored the large man. He was still angry and hurt at Seth's uncharacteristic snapping, and didn't honestly care if he woke his friend up or not. _It would serve him right, _Dean thought to himself in annoyance_._ He set the bags down, grabbed his burger, and decided to settle himself at what he supposed passed as the "dinner table." Watching Dean settle himself with his burger, it was obvious to Roman that Dean had no intentions of waking Seth for dinner. Sighing, Reigns rose and walked over to Seth's sleeping form. He felt bad for this, but he had to wake his friend. Gently, he shook Seth, "Hey man, dinner's here."

If it would have been possible, Seth's startled jump would have sent him colliding with the ceiling. Suddenly feeling hands on him, Seth struggled frantically, trying to defend himself from his attackers. Looking around wildly, and not really registering the hotel room or its occupants, it took a few moments for the voice Seth heard to finally begin to crystallize. The words, Roman's soft, confident, soothing words, eventually began to penetrate his fuzzy brain. "It's okay Seth, we're here. It's just me and Dean, don't worry. We'll protect you," the big man kept repeating. Once able to get his breathing under control, Seth locked eyes with Reigns, giving him a quick nod to let his friend know he was back with them.

Dean, who had leapt to his friend's side on the bed, now stared guiltily down at the bed sheets, feeling worse than ever that he'd given the obviously shaken and hurting Seth such a hard time. Dean went back to the table again once he saw that Seth was coherent, but he simply stared at his burger, his appetite suddenly gone.

Reigns, once able to see that Seth was really awake and aware of his surroundings, pried his friend's death grip from his arm so that he could return a moment later with the younger man's soup. Handing Seth a spoon, Reigns tried to ignore the very obvious tremors coursing through Seth's body as the hurt man tried unsuccessfully to get the shaking spoon of soup up to his mouth, blushing when he failed.

Roman cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable as he now found himself in the role Seth normally occupied: fixer and peacekeeper. "So, wonder what's on TV this late at night?" Roman pretended to muse to himself, trying to turn the attention away from Seth's embarrassing battle with his soup. As Reigns grabbed the remote, he settled in to eat his salad, groaning inwardly: that's what he got for letting a still annoyed Dean pick his dinner for him. Dean looked up and smirked for a second, then once Roman caught his eye, Dean resumed his careful study of the burger he now had no interest in eating. Dean's simple goal now was to avoid the gaze of the other two men until it was time to go to sleep. Deciding to let his issues with Dean drop for the moment, especially since Seth was hurt and hated when his two friends fought, Roman broke the awkward silence by flipping through the channels. He stopped with a small smile as he saw both Dean and Seth perk up at the sound of one of their favorite show's theme music. Happy with his selection, all three men settled in with their dinners to watch a late night episode of _Cops_.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After about half an hour, Ambrose and Reigns knew that Seth was in a lot of pain. Seth squirmed in bed, trying to find a resting position that hurt the least. Seeing Dean still avoiding eye contact, Reigns decided to take matters into his own hands. Standing up, he grabbed the bottle of painkillers and a bottle of water, and walked over to the youngest Shield member, pleased that at least a small amount of soup had made it into Seth's stomach. "Alright Seth, happy pill time," Reigns said, trying to joke around. He knew how much Seth hated these pills, and he understood why, but right now, his friend needed them.

"I'm okay," Seth lied, trying to brush off Roman's suggestion.

"Rollins, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, it's up to you...," Reigns countered. Seth studied Roman for a moment, then sighed in defeat as only hard resolve showed on the larger man's face.

"I'm going to hate you for this," Seth mumbled as he accepted the pills and water.

"No you won't, you'll just dislike me for awhile," Roman replied softly.

Roman offered to help Seth change out of his ring gear, but Seth brushed him off once again, insisting that he could do it himself once the pills kicked in. Both Dean and Roman knew that wouldn't happen. Once Seth took the pills, both men knew their friend would be asleep before he knew it. But, the three men had learned when to pick their battles with one another, and Dean and Roman felt it would be better to let Seth sleep in his gear, than fight him to take it off. Just as they had predicted, it didn't take long for the pills to work their magic.

Settling down at the table now that Seth was taken care of, Reigns pinned Ambrose with a suspicious glare. "You've been awfully quiet tonight...," Reigns said, trying to make the comment sound offhand, but unable to hide the underlying accusation. Ambrose simply shrugged in reply.

"Did something happen between you two while I was in the shower? You've been giving Seth the cold shoulder since you came back from grabbing dinner..."

"It's nothing. Seth was just snappy, and I took it the wrong way, that's all," Ambrose answered, his feelings of guilt renewed.

Reigns couldn't help the incredulous look that passed across his face. "You're kidding me right?"

Confused, Dean looked up to meet Roman's glare. "So Seth got a little snippy, so what? The guy just got jumped. I think I'd cut him a little slack."

"I know," Dean replied, hating the way he sounded like a hurt, scared, betrayed little child.

Reigns stared at his twitching teammate for a moment longer as he tried to figure out what to do. Seth would know what to do in this situation. He'd know the right words to say to make everything better. The problem was, Roman wasn't Seth. Sighing, Reigns simply stood up. "We'd better get ready for bed, we've got a long night ahead of us and an early morning," Roman said. Dean nodded his agreement, abandoning his half eaten burger in favor of sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Once both men were ready for bed, they held out their fists. "You know the deal," Reigns said, and Dean nodded. Roman's rock crushed Dean's scissors.

"Alright, I'll take the first watch. I'll wake you up in a few hours," Reigns said. Dean simply nodded and went to the unoccupied bed as Roman resettled himself in the lumpy chair.

An hour into his watch, it was getting harder and harder for Reigns to keep his eyes open, but he struggled to do his best. The three Shield members had made a promise that when one of them was injured, the other two would watch after their wounded brother. This went double for Seth who had terrible nightmares whenever he took strong pain medication. So Roman sat back, trying to stay awake while waiting for the inevitable nightmares to strike.

* * *

Feeling his head bob for longer than the last time, Roman got up and began to stretch his stiff, sore muscles; _big men were not made for little chairs_, he grumpily thought to himself. Loosening his muscles, Roman began to head towards the bathroom, but his trip was cut short as the lights went out.

"Rome?" Reigns heard Dean call softly. He had hoped that Ambrose was getting some rest, but he guessed not. "Get to Seth," the older man ordered, trying to make his own way over to protect his brothers.

"What happened?" Dean whispered.

"I don't know, the lights just went out."

Both men tensed, knowing what tended to follow failed electricity in their line of work. But nothing came. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Roman sat quietly listening, trying to filter out the sounds of the sheets rustling under Ambrose's twitching form. Finally, a knock on the door interrupted their tense waiting. Roman, trying to remember the layout of room, did his best to make it to the door with as few bruises to his shins as possible. "Who is it?" he asked as the knock sounded again.

"Housekeeping," a voice replied. Roman looked out of the peephole and saw a woman carrying an arm full of illuminated flashlights. Reigns slowly unlocked and opened the door.

"Hello sir, sorry to bother you, but the storm knocked out the power for a few blocks. As a result, we're handing out flashlights to our guests and discounting their bills," the woman said in a chipper manner, extending a flashlight to Roman.

"Um, okay, thanks," the big man said while accepting her offer.

"Good night then," the woman replied, hurrying off to the next room.

Reigns shut and locked the door, sweeping the room with the flashlight just in case the blackout wasn't mother nature inspired. Dean suddenly cried out in pain.

"Dean? What's wrong?" Roman asked, his senses on high alert as he made his way back to his friends.

"Be careful where you're pointing that thing man," Dean said in annoyance as he shielded his eyes from the flashlight beam. Grumbling, Roman propped himself up against the headboard next to where Dean now rested, Seth asleep in the bed next to them.

"Get some sleep," Roman ordered, "we're going to switch watch in a few hours." Dean simply turned on his side, his back to Roman, in place of an answer. Reigns sighed. He was doing his best, but Dean was really getting on his nerves. Roman felt like he needed Seth there to help him keep his temper in check, but he was on his own. He had to admit to himself though, he was doing pretty well so far at ignoring the urge to strangle the snarky man laying next to him.

Thinking of his other friend, Reigns shined the light towards Seth's bed. He looked pale and clammy, the lines of pain still evident on his face as he shifted uncomfortably. Roman could tell that Seth was preparing for a different kind of fight: one with his dreams. As Reigns worried over his friend, he didn't notice his head suddenly resting on his chest, nor did he notice his eyes closing of their own accord. In fact, before he knew it, he was asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Seth shook Roman's arm gently, stepping back a pace as he did every time he tried to wake the big man. Right on cue, Roman woke with a start and a wild punch. Once the expected punch was thrown, Seth moved in to calm his friend.

"Hey Rome, it's okay, it's just me," Seth said gently. Roman's sleepy, concerned eyes focused on Seth. "Sorry to wake you man, but I've got to take a leak, and the bathroom light won't come on."

Roman nodded, "Storm knocked out the power."

As he accepted Roman's proffered flashlight, Seth let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, grateful to hear that the lack of power was nature-caused.

"Be right back," Seth reassured him as Roman began to rise to help. "I got it, don't worry."

Roman nodded. "Alright, but if you need anything, just yell," Roman said, sleep already trying to claim him once more. Seth nodded as he thought to himself, _over my dead body am I going to ask for help in the bathroom_. Smirking at his thought, Seth gingerly made his way into the other room, staggering and bouncing off the walls as the pain pills made his motions sluggish and uncoordinated. Seth carefully handled his business, mindful of his injuries. Then, going to the sink to wash his hands, his heart nearly stopped: taped to the mirror, staring a hole into him, was a strange plastic mask.

Trying to keep himself composed, lest he wake his friends, Seth instinctively crouched into a defensive stance, ignoring the burns and protests of his weakened body. He had no idea how someone had been able to sneak in, without waking anyone, in order to stick that stupid mask to the mirror. There was no way it was there before they came into the room, or else Roman would have seen it when he'd showered, and shown the other two, making a quick joke about it as he did so. As quickly and quietly as he could, given the grogginess from the pills, Seth performed a thorough sweep of the hotel room, but found nothing. Returning to the bathroom, he angrily ripped the mask from the mirror, taking it out with him back into the room. He didn't want the others to experience the fear he had just endured.

Shaking from exerting the small amount of energy he'd recovered while sleeping, Seth carefully made his way back to bed, intent on keeping watch over his friends all night; he didn't want anyone getting the drop on them. On the way to bed, Seth dropped the mask into his bag, not wanting it to startle the others when they woke up to use the bathroom too. Seth knew he'd been able to watch over his friends for at least a good half hour before the adrenaline began to wean, and the pain pills pulled him under once more.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"No! Dean! Rome! Let them go! Just take me!" Seth yelled, waking Dean. Dean turned over to find Roman asleep...the guy could sleep through anything. Getting up carefully in the flashlight's yellow glow, Dean began walking towards the source of the light, Seth's bed. He couldn't help but snort at the irony: _don't go into the light_, he joked with himself.

Coming along the side of Seth's unruly bed, Ambrose tried to gently shake him awake, "Hey man, it's okay, Reigns and I are right here, it's o–," Dean was cut off by a hard punch to his jaw, making him stumble back into Reigns who, in his usual manner, woke up swinging, connecting with the side of Ambrose's head. Ambrose went down to one knee, watching the white lights dance in the dim darkness in front of his eyes as he struggled to maintain his grip on consciousness.

Reigns, quickly assessing the situation, realized what he'd done, and knelt down next to Ambrose. "Sorry man, you alright?"

Ambrose nodded his head, swallowing against the nausea that accompanied the movement, as he pointed towards Seth. Reigns followed Dean's gesture to find Seth battling with his sheets in his sleep.

"Don't hurt them! They're all I've got...," Seth said with a strangled sob, clearly losing his dream battle.

Reigns' breath caught in his chest at hearing the heart-wrenching admission. Seth was an open book when it came to his two best friends; he'd tell them the truth of whatever they wanted to know. That is, unless the subject of family came up. Rollins would just laugh and say that Reigns and Ambrose _were_ his family, the only family he needed. Now Reigns wondered if he and Dean were Seth's only family at all...

Dodging a few flailing swings, Roman tried to grab a hold of Seth, feeling Ambrose back by his side, trying to do the same. However, the harder they tried to secure Seth, the more the young man struggled, his blows gaining extra power from his fear and desperation.

"Leave them alone! I'll kill you if you hurt them!" Seth screamed, struggling wildly.

"Sorry about this Seth," Roman muttered as he dodged and absorbed a few punches in order to literally sit on his friend to pin him down. Ambrose, taking another kick to the chest, followed suit, pinning down Seth's legs.

"No..." came a heartbroken sob from Seth.

"Seth, hey Seth," Reigns called, trying to wake his friend, "Seth man, wake up!" Reigns carefully shook his wounded comrade, waking Seth. Wild-eyed, Seth began to struggle anew.

"Hey Seth, calm down, it's me. It's okay," Roman repeated as he watched the wild, primal light slowly leave Seth's eyes to be replaced by a more focused awareness.

"Are you okay?" Seth choked out, looking around like a trapped animal. "Where's Dean?"

Dean stuck out his head around Roman, still pinning Seth's legs, "Present and accounted for," Dean said, trying to lighten the tension.

"Your face. What happened to your face?" Seth asked in confused concern, his senses revving back up again to fight off whatever appeared to have attacked his brother, leaving his face swollen.

"Nothing, just a late night double team...and not the good kind," Ambrose quickly corrected with a smirk that made his swollen face pound even more. Rolling his eyes at Seth's uncomprehending stare, Dean tried again, "Look, it's no big deal. I tried to wake you and you decked me. Nothing to worry about."

Seth looked down at the sheets, "Sorry."

The heartbroken tone of his voice broke both Dean and Roman's own hearts; they had never seen Seth this distraught, pain pill nightmares or otherwise.

"It's cool man, don't worry about it. If it makes you feel any better, Reigns decked me in the face just now when I tried to wake him up too," Dean replied with a bitter chuckle at his bad luck.

Though perhaps not the best time, Dean felt that he deserved an explanation for getting punched and kicked by his friend. He couldn't help but ask, "So, what were you dreaming about anyhow?"

Roman shot daggers at Dean as he glared at the wounded and annoyed blond.

"You know, the usual: Shield world domination," Seth answered with a strained chuckle.

Reigns laughed. "Let's dominate WWE first, before we move on to the world."

For Dean, being brushed off by his teammates was the last straw of his patience for the evening. His guilt for giving the injured Seth a hard time was momentarily forgotten as he got up off of Seth's legs. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go get some ice," he said in a very controlled voice. Before anyone could reply, Dean had gone into the bathroom, grabbed a small towel and walked out the door, relieved to find that lanterns had been set up in the hallways for the guests during the blackout.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Seth tapped on Reigns, "Can't breathe Rome," Seth gasped out as his entire body lit up with fiery pain.

Reigns quickly, but carefully, scrambled off of the younger, smaller man. "Sorry," Roman said hastily.

"What's wrong with Dean, Rome? It's not like this is the first time we've accidentally hit each other..." Reigns flinched at Seth's words as he remembered spearing Ambrose, and now, punching him. Roman sighed, leave it to the peacekeeper to be worried about others as he laid in bed all banged up. "This is going to sound ridiculous, but he said he's mad because you snapped at him," Reigns said with a chuckle.

This time it was Seth's turn to flinch. He couldn't believe he'd done that and forgot to apologize for it. By the time Dean had returned, Seth was already asleep. At Roman's questioning look, Seth took a deep, painful breath. "When we were in the indies together, I got into more than one brawl with people who yelled and snapped at Dean. He's had a bad past, and someone yelling or snapping at him brings it all flooding back. I promised that I would never do that to him, and now I blew it. I have to go say sorry," Seth said as he struggled against Reign's hand holding him down.

"Just stay here. He'll be back in a minute," Reigns said.

Seth could have kicked himself for snapping at Dean. It's a wonder his friend hadn't walked out on them right then and there. Dean's past had been really rough, full of abuse. Seth had made it his personal mission, upon meeting Ambrose, to protect him...to keep anything like what he'd went through from ever happening again as long as he was around. He even had some scars to prove that he'd kept his promise.

Roman wanted to let the issue rest, but he couldn't resist, "If Ambrose hates people snapping and yelling at him so much, then why the heck does he stay around me?"

Seth thought to himself for a moment, "I guess, for some reason or another, he actually cares enough about us to put up with it."

Roman simply nodded his head, seeing peacekeeper Seth in a whole new light, and with a lot more baggage to carry than Reigns initially thought. No wonder Seth had been trying so hard lately to have he and Dean get along better. Guilt started to creep in as Roman reflected on his and Dean's most recent fights. Reigns sighed, knowing the next question wouldn't be easy for Seth, but he figured either he tried to get an answer now, or he'd lose his shot, "In all seriousness Seth, what did you dream about? I've never seen you so freaked out before..."

Seth looked down at the comforter and Roman immediately felt guilty for the look of shame that crossed Seth's face. "Guess you won't take 'nothing' for an answer huh?" Seth tried weakly. Roman simply continued to stare. Seth slumped in defeat, too tired to fight anyhow. "Listen, there's something I didn't tell you guys because I didn't want to freak you out for no reason." Reigns immediately perked up. "When I was fighting in the dark, I heard voices...and not crazy people voices like Ambrose, but the voices of whoever was punching me. They just kept promising how they were coming after you guys next. How they would take me out of the picture so I couldn't protect you guys. They kept saying how I always ruined everything. How I needed to be 'disposed of'," Seth said. "I guess it just got into my head, that's all," Seth finished with a spooked look in his eyes, recalling his all too vivid dream.

"Don't worry Seth. Ambrose and I can take care of ourselves. You don't always have to protect everyone, you know..."

Seth nodded weakly, more to appease Roman than to agree. He would always put his life and body on the line for his friends. They were his brothers, and he'd die for them if he had to.

Suddenly a memory sparked, "Oh, one more thing, check my bag real fast."

Roman climbed off the bed and opened Seth's bag, freezing as he saw the strange mask, "What the..."

"I found it," Seth quickly said.

"Where?"

"In the bathroom, when I got up earlier."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Reigns asked, letting just an edge of anger leak into his voice.

"I swept the whole room and didn't find anything or anyone, so I decided to handle it myself and just keep watch while you guys slept. I know how exhausted you two have been."

"Not the point Seth. Keeping something like this from Dean and I could get one of us hurt."

Seth began to reply in defense of himself, when his face suddenly flashed with panic, "Dean. Where's Dean? He's been gone for too long."

Roman rose quickly, already heading for the door. "Stay here," he ordered.

Seth struggled to keep the world from spinning out of control as he stood to follow his friend out into the hallway. _Over my dead body am I going to stay here_, Seth thought to himself. Grabbing the flashlight, and still feeling the weird side effects of the pain pills, Seth stumbled his way towards the door and after his friends.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Dean smiled at the thought that at least something in this miserable night had gone his way. Though the power was out, the ice-maker had kept itself cold enough to keep whatever ice it already had from melting. Dean reached in, grabbing a handful of small ice cubes and put them in the small towel he'd brought with him. After one more handful, Dean closed up the towel and pressed it against his face, sighing at the comfortable cooling sensation that spread over his hot, swollen skin.

Content to be by himself for a little while, Ambrose leaned up against the wall next to the ice-maker, closing his eyes as he reflected on the evening's events. He felt annoyed, as usual, with Reigns and hurt by Seth. Reigns he could handle. Seth, on the other hand, he had no defense against. Rollins was supposed to be his best friend. He was supposed to stand up for him when no one else could or would, but now, he'd turned on Ambrose too. _It only takes one snappy remark_, Ambrose thought bitterly to himself. He knew he'd need to build up his resolve for the next, more extreme time that he was sure Seth would lose his tempt with him. If Dean's past had taught him nothing else, it'd taught him that once someone turned on you, it only got worse after that.

Ambrose felt a hollow spot growing in his chest. Before he'd met Seth, Dean had been a depressed kid barely holding on. However, once he'd gone into the indies and met Rollins, the younger man had attached himself to Dean's hip, and he'd watched over Dean like a hawk. Only later did Dean realize that it was Rollins' protection that had afforded Ambrose enough hope, causing him to begin to crawl out of his suffocating darkness. Even today, it still blew Dean's mind that people always remarked how confident he looked in the ring and on the mic, but that was only thanks to Seth. Having Seth by his side gave Dean the confidence to do anything. If it hadn't of been for Rollins, Dean didn't know where he'd be today. This thought brought Dean's past musings to a halt, while shedding an uncertain light on his dark and looming future. Now that Seth was through with him, he wondered what was next? Would he return to the darkness that had nearly swallowed him up, a darkness that only Seth had been able to penetrate and push back?

Ambrose sighed and tried to shake his feeling of loneliness before it got too tight a hold on him. The others would be getting worried about him...if they even cared anymore. Opening his eyes, Dean was confused. He closed them again and opened them to be greeted by the same sight: darkness. He couldn't help but chuckle, _when I was thinking about darkness, this isn't exactly what I meant_...

Trying to make his way back to where he thought he remembered his room being, Ambrose began to hear voices. Voices threatening Seth, promising to finish the job, then move on the rest of The Shield. Just as he was beginning to wonder, with amusement, if everyone was right, and there were bodiless voices in his head, something brushed against Dean's leg, causing him to jump in fright. Colliding with a table as he stumbled away from the touch, Ambrose hissed in pain saying, "Son of a..."

"Ambrose, where are you?"

Dean perked up as he heard Roman's deep, strong voice, "I'm over here...wherever here is." Remembering the voices, he asked, "is Seth with you?"

"No, I left him in the room."

Dean wasn't sure if he should feel happy or worried, but the second sound of a slamming door caught his attention.

"Guys?" Seth asked shakily, barely holding his own against the pills and his exhaustion. Shining the beam around, he searched for his friends. His beam first found Reigns, feet from him, looking worried, but unharmed. "Dean? You still out here?" Seth called.

"Yeah, the stupid lantern must have died," Ambrose replied.

Seth shined his beam in the direction he thought Dean's voice had come from, and he suddenly began sprinting towards his friend.

"Hey, what the...?" Dean asked, startled as he saw his best friend charging headlong into him. Then he felt it, an arm that felt more like a tree trunk slamming into the back of his already dizzy head. Falling to the ground, Ambrose tried to cover himself, to protect his head from further blows. Then he heard the familiar whooshing sound of Rollins' ring gear as he vaulted over Dean, taking out his attacker with a dropkick.

A heavy thud and a crash of china emanated from the other end of the hallway where Seth had left Roman. Seth raced back to check on Reigns, flashlight miraculously still in hand. _They don't call him the architect for nothing_, Dean thought to himself.

Rushing towards Roman, Seth stopped dead as he saw his large friend chocked into submission, the attacker using Roman as a shield. "We can make this real easy Sethie boy. Come with me, and I let your friend go. Fight me like you did my friend over there, and I break his neck," the attacker said quietly, tightening his grip around an unconscious Roman's throat just to prove he wasn't messing around. A small groan escape from Roman, making the stranger smile.

Seth could have sworn his heart stopped beating as flashes of his dream replayed unbidden in his mind. "Okay, okay, just don't hurt him. You can take me. Just please let him go."

"Seth, don't!" Ambrose called, still on the floor fighting to stay conscious. Seth refused to look back at what he knew would be Dean's pleading expression. The same one he'd seen countless times before when standing up for his friend.

"That's better," the mystery man cooed, "now turn off the flashlight, put it on the ground and put your hands up. Do anything other than what I've just told you, and you will soon find yourself a one man faction, understand?" the man asked calmly, clearly feeling no doubts about his control of the situation.

"Yeah," Seth said as he knelt down, putting the flashlight on the floor and turning it off. Then, almost immediately it felt like a truck had slammed into Seth as he was tackled to the ground, blows raining down on him.

"Your friends thank you," said the same voice, somewhere in the darkness.

Ambrose did the only thing he could think to do in a hotel full of people, "Help! Someone help! Help!"

Suddenly, doors all around them began to open as other guests brought out their flashlights to check on the commotion. One woman walked up to Ambrose, her light finding him first. "There's a lantern over there, we need to get it on," Ambrose told her. She found her way to the lantern and turned it on just as the door to the stairs slammed shut.

Cursing under his breath, Ambrose tried to stand up, but a wave of nausea prevented it. Looking up, he saw Roman in the dim light, sprawled on the ground.

"Oh my! Is he okay?" An elderly woman asked, turning to Ambrose.

"Yeah, just too much to drink," Ambrose said, trying to play it off as his adrenaline helped to finally get his shaky legs underneath him. Dean looked between Roman's still form heaped on the ground, and the door he assumed Seth was taken through. Dean walked over to Roman and knelt beside his fallen friend.

"Are you sure you boys will be alright?" The woman asked.

"Yes ma'am, we just need to sleep off."

"But you sounded like you were being attacked or something, the way you were yelling," she said cautiously.

"Well, being drunk in the dark can be a scary thing," Dean replied patiently. He suddenly regretted that he knew the truth of his own statement. Looking concerned, but not wanting to cause a scene, the woman turned and went back to her own room. The other guests shortly thereafter followed suit.

Dean searched for Seth's discarded flashlight and grabbed it, not trusting the now illuminated lantern. Once he had that measure of security, Dean turned his full attention to Reigns. A few gentle shakes elicited a groan from the large man as he began to come to.

"Hey, Rome, that's it, wake up," Dean encouraged, remembering to keep his distance from the big man. "Roman, you with me man?" Dean asked concerned, silently noting the angry red marks around Roman's neck.

Roman simply nodded, not yet trusting his voice. He suddenly looked around, searching the dim hallway. Dean, spending enough time with his two friends that he felt they could read each other's minds sometimes, understood immediately what Reigns was looking for...or rather, _who_ he was looking for.

"They got him Rome."

Roman's eyes grew wide. Then, they narrowed with accusations.

"Hey, don't give me that look. It was you or him. I knew you were in the hallway. Who knows which way they took Seth from the stairwell? They could have gone onto any floor and we wouldn't know," Dean said, not sure if he was trying harder to convince himself or Roman. Roman still looked skeptical.

"Look, even if I had somehow been able to go after him, standing threatens a second visit from my burger. What hope did I have of fighting off a group of guys on my own when I have to fight my burger's comeback at the same time? Not to mention I can't get the world to stop spinning for two seconds..."

Roman considered it for a minute, then answered in a gravely, strained voice, "Yeah, you're right. Then I would have lost both you."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Hey, I didn't mean it in a bad way. You said yourself, you're hurt."

"Yeah, I guess," Dean said with a sigh. He looked once more at the door to the stairwell, hoping beyond hope that Seth would come through it any second with a bright, triumphant smile. He knew his hopes were only making the situation worse, but he couldn't help it. Seth was his best friend, not to mention the one with all the plans. How would he and Roman get Seth back?

Groaning, Roman began to stand. Ambrose alternated between trying to help the big Samoan up and trying to keep himself from face planting. "Alright, let's get to the room, regroup, and figure out what to do next," Roman said, offering the closest thing they had to a plan. Ambrose agreed, and he and Reigns, the oil and water of the team, leaned on one another, depending on each other for support on their way back to their room. It was a short trip, but to the two beaten men, it might as well have been miles...


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Seth struggled, as best as he could with his arms pinned behind his back, as he was forced to descend the stairs. "My friends are going to come after me and beat you all to a pulp," he threatened. The three men merely scoffed at him. Seth tried to examine the three as best as he could while being shoved down flight after flight of steps, but try as he might, he didn't recognize any of them. From what he could tell, two of the men were huge, muscular men who could nearly dwarf even Reigns. The other man was a little heavy set, but Seth wasn't fooled into a false sense of security as, after examining his frame, he could see the muscles that belied the man's hidden strength.

Finally getting towards the last few bottom floors, Seth renewed his struggle. If they took him out of the building, it was game over. Dean and Roman would never be able to track him down. Seth couldn't help looking up every minute or so, expecting at any second to see Roman or Ambrose sticking their heads over the railing, trying to see if he was still there. However, as the "1st floor" sign came into view, Seth's hopes began to fade.

As he was marched out of the lobby, the three men threatened him that if he did not walk out casually, they would come back for his friends. These threats, coupled with the fact that neither of his friends had popped out for a last minute rescue attempt, withered every ounce of his hope. Then, once out of the hotel, he was loaded into a van and forced to watch the building grow smaller and smaller out the back window to the tune of the three men mocking his confidence in his friends.

* * *

"Well, step one of the plan is done: we made it into our room again. What next?" Dean asked.

Reigns simply sat on the edge of the bed, absentmindedly rubbing his throat. He was the brawler, not the planner. Dean was the eccentric one of the group, not necessarily a person you would want to put in charge of such an important plan. This left both men in an unfamiliar position, a position that Seth fit to a tee.

Ambrose bit his tongue, forcing down the assortment of smart-alike remarks that came to mind as he observed an unmoving Reigns. Instead, he settled for some pills to try to bring the pounding in his head to a dull roar...if he was lucky. Going into the bathroom for a glass of water, Ambrose suddenly called Roman.

Getting up slowly and making his way cautiously to the bathroom, Reigns looked at Ambrose curiously, then followed the younger man's stare. The mask that Seth had showed to Reigns was propped up against the mirror with a message taped to it written in strange handwriting which read: _We have what you care about most. If you want him back in one piece, The Shield has to crumble into pieces. See you at the arena tomorrow afternoon, and for Seth's sake, don't get help and don't be late._

After reading the note multiple times, Reigns crumpled it up in his hand. Ambrose, knowing he was going to regret it, but unable to stop himself none the less let out his frustration and fear on the closest thing he could get his hands on. With a loud crash, the smooth reflective surface of the mirror was replaced with spider cracks.

"What'd you do that for?" Reigns asked in annoyance.

"Well I had to punch something, and the closest things to me are you and the mirror. Would you have preferred the other option?"

Reigns narrowed his eyes, but didn't reply to Dean's obvious goading. Sighing, Reigns ran his hands through his long hair, a clear sign that he was frustrated and at a loss of what to do. "I guess the best thing for us to do is get some sleep and then head over to the arena."

Dean looked as if Reigns had just admitted that he was part of the whole plot against Seth, "You want us to sleep when our best friend is stuck with some crazy psychopaths?!"

Choosing to ignore the funny irony of Ambrose calling _someone else_ a psychopath, Reigns decided instead, to loosened his tight hold on his anger just enough to get Dean to pay attention to his logic, "Look, the note said they'd be at the arena tomorrow afternoon. We have no idea where he's at in the meantime, so we might as well rest up, especially if there's going to be a fight."

Ambrose merely stared at Reigns for a moment before shoving past him–no easy feat–and flopping face first onto the bed Seth had occupied.

"Uh uh," Reigns said, pulling at Ambrose to get him up. Dean struggled and protested, but Reigns stilled him as he explained, "We need to see how bad that head injury of yours is before you go to sleep. If it's a bad one and you sleep, you may not wake up, and I need you to watch my back tomorrow."

Roman had played his ace in the hole with Dean. Dean just couldn't say no to being needed. From what little he knew about Dean's past, he figured that Dean hadn't felt needed all that often before he'd met his Shield brothers. Therefore, whenever Dean found out that his help could actually count for something, he did everything in his power not to let that person down.

After doing all of the appropriate tests that he'd not only had done on him on more than one occasion, but that he'd seen done to the other two Shield members numerous times, Reigns concluded, in his non-medical opinion, that Dean's concussion wasn't too severe to deprive the younger man of his rest. Reigns also decided that the only way that either man was going to sleep was if they had some meds to make their heads stop pounding. Going into the bathroom to retrieve the pills and water that Dean had left on the counter, both men took their dosage. Both Reigns and Ambrose laid down to try their best to sleep, each man wondering where their missing friend was expected to sleep tonight...


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Rome...you asleep?"

"If I say yes, will you go to sleep too?"

"Probably not."

"Then no, I'm still awake."

Silence followed this brief exchange, broken only by Dean's real reason for asking:

"Rome?"

"...yes Dean?"

"Do you think Seth will be okay?"

"I don't know...I hope so," Roman answered slowly.

"Yeah, me too..."

Reigns knew that Ambrose was fighting to hold something back. He knew Dean's violent twitching, that Roman could hear all the way in his own bed, meant there was more to say. "Something on your mind Dean?"

"You mean other than Seth?"

"I mean whatever is making you twitch like a druggie right now."

"I need him to be okay Rome...there's something I need to tell him," Dean paused and hesitantly continued, needing to get the worry off his chest, "I need to tell him sorry before I don't get a chance to again."

Roman looked towards Dean's bed in the now dark room. "Tell him sorry for what?"

"That I got mad at him. That I thought he was through with me. I thought he'd finally caught on like everyone else had, that he'd finally figured out how big of a mess I am...I thought he was tired of me and that he was starting to cut me loose," Ambrose finished, his last words barely more than a whisper. The words, along with all of Dean's worries, had spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them. Ambrose was suddenly glad that he was in the dark so that Roman wouldn't know how red his face had turned.

Reigns, for his part, didn't know how to respond. How could Dean be so...so...clueless? Seth adored Dean. Seth would do anything to protect him, even from Roman himself. Unable to control himself, Reigns blurted, "You're stupid Dean."

"Gee, thanks, don't sugar coat it or anything..."

"No, I mean how could you think Seth would turn on you?"

"Well, he snapped at me and–"

"Really? That again? You know, Seth told me how bad he felt for that. He was actually going to apologize to you. Knowing him, he'd probably planned to beg for your forgiveness when you came back from grabbing ice." Reigns didn't know if Seth would have actually begged purse, but it sounded good for his argument, so he went with it. "You must have figured out by now that Seth would do anything for you."

"Yeah, I know now. The way he flew at that guy to dropkick him when he could hardly see straight...he didn't even hesitate," Ambrose admitted quietly, more to himself than Reigns as he reflected on the recent attack.

"See?"

Ambrose nodded in the darkness, unable to speak.

"Well, when we get him back tomorrow, you can tell him all about how silly you've been tonight, and you two can spend the rest of the day making up, how about that?"

"If."

"If?"

"Yeah, you mean _if_ we get him back."

"No, I mean _when_. I'm not leaving that arena without Seth, and that's final," Roman said, letting his rage coat his words. Ambrose, instead of being antagonized by the livid tone, took comfort in it. They would get Seth back if it was the last thing either of them did. Ambrose knew Roman was all in, and he was too.

"Alright Rome, tomorrow we raise hell until we get our boy back."

"Yup, now go to sleep. We've gotta be in the best possible shape for what's coming tomorrow."

Ambrose turned away from Reigns, hoping that they'd get Seth back tomorrow in one piece. Reigns turned too, silently hoped that the worst of Seth's nightmares were behind him since he didn't have his friends to save him this time if the nightmares attacked.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Seth opened blurry, burning eyes to be greeted by the sight of a strange room bathed in sunlight. Nothing about this situation was necessarily odd to him; being a traveling wrestler meant, more often than not, waking up in strange places. Plus, depending on how much he drank the night before, not remembering how he got to those places wasn't such an unusual thing either. Seth looked around the small room, trying to remember where he was and how he had gotten there. However, the more he tried to figure it out, the more his most recent dream invaded the thought process, fighting for his attention. He'd had the worst nightmare, even worse than the usual nightmares he could expect when taking strong pills. He'd dreamt that three men had attacked him and his teammates, hurting his other two friends. _Speaking of which_, Seth thought to himself, looking around for the two men he was eager to share his oddly realistic dream with. Just then, the small room's door opened, and Seth felt a small smile tug at his lips, _speak of the devils_.

However, the smile quickly vanished as Seth began to pale. The men who came into his sun lit room were not the two men he'd been hoping for.; they were not his brothers-in-arms. Apparently, Seth deduced, the men from his dreams had somehow followed him into reality. Studying the men more closely, the events from the night before suddenly slammed into him, taking his breath away and leaving him with one dominating thought: _I am so screwed..._

"Up and at 'em sunshine, time to go," one of the tall, muscular men said. He had black, shoulder-length hair and stared down at Seth with a look of expectation. Seth knew this man expected no struggle or argument, but he just couldn't bring himself to go quietly into the unknown with men, who the night before, had attacked him and his friends. Pretending to get up slowly, like he was still groggy with sleep, Seth took the opportunity to lunge towards the door.

Seth, with all of his high-flying, in-ring training was fast, but he hadn't correctly calculated how sore his bruised body would be from the fights the night before, nor how quickly these towering men could move. Seth made it as far as the doorway before his momentum sent him colliding into the other man, the bald man, who had quickly placed himself between Seth and freedom. Just as quickly as the escape plan had begun, it now came to an end as Seth found himself held in a chock hold by the bald man. The big, black-haired man shook his head with quiet amusement before he took a small amount of rope from the pocket of his jeans. "I tried to let you do this the easy way," the big man said quietly. Seth thrashed and struggled under the protest of his battered body, but he was easily manhandled by both the men twice his size. Soon, his hands were tied behind his back, and he was being lead out to the van from the night before.

* * *

Waking early to shower after a restless night's sleep, both Roman and Dean got ready in their room quietly before packing up their own and Seth's luggage. On the way out of the hotel, they stopped for breakfast, deciding that they may as well eat something if today was going to be as hard and long of a day as they expected. Thus, forcing down their breakfast, they discussed their long drive to the next arena, and what they planned to do when they got there.

Both men, as they spoke in hushed tones to one another, surrounded by chipper waitresses and grumpy hotel guests, struggled against the urge to look over at Seth's luggage sitting next to their own by their table. The baggage only served as a constant reminder of their friend's absence, and the fight ahead of them.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The three men were smiles all around. "The boss will pay well for this," the man with shoulder-length black hair said as he kept watch over Seth in the back of the van.

"How could he not? We did even more than he asked," said the bald man in a quiet, thoughtful tone.

Seth simply stared out of the window the entire time that the men were talking about him like he was just a simple object. He had long since given up fighting his way out the van, and settled instead on saving his remaining energy to fight for his freedom once they finally got to their destination.

After a few hours of driving, a structure began to loom ahead of them, a structure that grew more familiar to Seth the closer they drove towards it. This only served to further confuse him. Of all places, why take him there? Didn't they know who he was?

* * *

"What are you doing here with _him_?" Hunter asked with a sneer.

"Well boss, I know you told us to rough him up, but we thought we'd go above and beyond and bring him to you personally," the black-haired man said, confused at the other man's outrage.

"Why would you do that?" the annoyed COO asked.

"Well, you said that you could never get him on his own to talk to him. We fixed that problem for you," the driver of the van, a man with shoulder-length brown hair answered matter-of-factly.

Hunter turned away from the three men in his office, choosing instead to watch the monitors he had set up on his desk. He struggled to buy himself enough time to think of a way out of this problem. Thus, as he appeared to calmly watch as his crew set up the ring in the arena, he was actually trying desperately to think of a way to make this kidnapping situation play out in his favor. He closed his eyes and calmed his mind from its frantic scramble. It would be disastrous in more ways than one if anyone knew that he'd had anything to do with this plot. However, there had yet to be a problem that he couldn't figure a way out of, and Seth Rollins was not going to be the thing to end that streak. Suddenly, a smile appeared on Hunter's face as he turned back to face the three men who waited eagerly for their reward. "You may have done me a favor after all. Bring him in, I want to talk to him," Hunter ordered, dismissing the three men with a wave of his hand.

"Now wait a minute. We were promised a reward, so reward first, then you get him." the shorter, heavier man said, brushing a few strands of his brown hair out of his face.

Hunter considered simply throwing the three men out of his office himself, but he paused. These three men, as they said, had gone above and beyond what he had asked of them. He knew what they really wanted, what they had hinted to when he was interviewing them for this "job." Sure, the money he was willing to pay to have Rollins roughed up was nice for them, but he knew what they really wanted: a more permanent job situation.

At first, when he had initially met the men, Hunter had played along, promising to give thought to the idea that perhaps these three men could join the WWE depending on how good of a job they did with Rollins. Though now, he found himself seriously considering the idea. How many people did he have at his beck and call who would do something like this for him? None. They had done what he had asked of them quickly, and they had done it well.

"You've earned your money. I'll write the check while you fetch Rollins," Hunter replied to the eager, waiting stares.

"And the other proposal? Have you given it any thought?" the heavyset man asked.

"I have, and you'll get your answer when you bring me Rollins," Hunter answered, quickly growing bored with this transaction.

The heavyset man stared Hunter in the eye, sending an involuntary shiver down the COO's spine. Then the man slowly nodded and motioned to his men to follow him to retrieved their bargaining chip.

Hunter watched as his office door closed, hoping that he was not about to make a terrible mistake.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Seth simply settled on trying his best to glare holes through Triple H. He didn't know what the COO wanted, but when it came to him and his Shield brothers, being in Hunter's presence never ended well for the person sitting on the other side of Hunter's desk.

Seth tried to hold Triple H's gaze, but had to blink the blood out of his eyes now and then. His body ached, and it hurt when he breathed, but the pain had been worth it. The men who had taken him had made the very stupid mistake of leaving him in a janitor closet nearby while they negotiated his release with Hunter. This had given him time to find something to free himself with, something to get the ropes off. Thus, when the closet door had opened, Seth came out swinging at all three of the greedy faces who had peered in at him. Fighting his way out into the hallway, Seth had pounded every body part he could reach, not caring which of his three kidnappers he hit. He also yelled the whole time, hoping someone else would help rescue him, but he wasn't that lucky; it was still too early in the afternoon for many people to be in this particular part of the arena. Thus, outnumbered and quickly exhausted by a third beat-down in two days, Seth was soon brought under control again

Once they had returned to his office, Triple H had scanned the four men and noticed that Seth had a gash over his black eye, the heavyset man was favoring his midsection, the black-haired man's head was seeping blood just under his hairline, and the bald man with the red beard had a busted lip and nose. Hunter would never tell the men, but he was a bit proud of Seth for doing so well against the three larger men; this altercation had confirmed that Hunter had chosen correctly.

"Here is your savior, as promised," the heavy man said with a theatrical bow, hissing as he held his midsection during the gesture.

"Well Bray, Rowan, Harper, you've kept up your end of the bargain and then some..." Hunter said slowly, pausing to consider what he was about to do, still unsure if he was about to make a good decision or not. Continuing, he told them, "I've considered your proposal. I can tell you've spent a lot of time coming up with angles and characters, so I've decided to give you a shot. Welcome to the WWE."

Seth stared incredulously from Triple H to the three men, apparently named Bray, Rowan and Harper. He saw a carefully concealed glimmer of double in Hunter's eyes, and nothing but unbridled joy in the other three men.

"Now get out," Hunter said with an authoritative growl.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Seth now stood dumbfounded in front of Triple H, the fight draining out of him as he tried to comprehend what was happening.

Triple H watched the three men leave, then turned his attention back to his prize. "Sorry about that, I hope they didn't bang you up too much. I need you in good shape after all."

Hunter's cryptic comment brought Seth back to the present situation. He couldn't stop himself from asking, "Did you just give those men, the three who just beat me down and kidnapped me, a job?!"

Hunter nodded his head, saying, "Yup. Good help is hard to find."

"So you just let random people who kiss your butt wrestle for you now?"

Hunter's face burned red before he quickly recomposed himself, settling instead on a look of amusement, "I hired you and your 'brothers' didn't I?" Hunter said, throwing in air quotes when he said "brothers," just to accentuate his point.

"Yeah, and now that we're not your puppets anymore, you're trying to take us out."

"Well not for long. I have a plan to end all of this. The Shield will bow down to me once more, and it all starts with you."

"Not interested."

"If you and your 'brothers' want to come out of this in one piece, I suggest you at least listen to the proposal," Hunter said, a deadly gleam in his eye.

Hunter smiled smugly. He knew he'd hit a sore spot when Seth looked at the ground, bowing his head in a silent assent to at least hear Hunter out. The most deadly thing about The Shield was their bond, but if Hunter had anything to do it, he planned to make it their downfall as well.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Reigns and Ambrose stormed through the arena, questioning anyone they met on their march to Triple H's office. They moved through the building like an angry storm, overturning and barging into anything and anywhere they thought that Seth might be. At one point, a security officer had approached them, but seeing their fierce and determined looks, he immediately backed down without saying anything.

Searching almost the entire building, Reigns and Ambrose finally found themselves in the hallway leading to Triple H's office. As they marched steadily down the corridor, they saw three large men approaching them, a heavyset man in the lead.

"Hey," Roman said, his deep voice easily carrying across the quickly closing distance between the two groups, "Have any of you seen a guy around here about his height," he said, motioning to Dean, "and with two-toned hair?"

The heavyset man looked back at the two giant, silent men behind him, who each slowly shook their heads. A large smile slowly crept onto the heavyset man's face, "I don't believe we have. But if we see him, you'll be the first to know," he drawled out in a sickly sweet voice. Dean couldn't stop the small shiver that sped up his spine at the man's words.

Roman looked back at Dean, reading his friend's thoughts with a quick glance. "Alright, thanks," Roman said as he marched past the three. Dean looked back to see the three men rounding the corner. He turned to Roman and said, "I don't believe them."

"Yeah, me either, but at least we know Seth's here now."

Dean nodded, and as he walked up to Triple H's door, he unceremoniously pounded his fist against it. "Hunter, we need to talk!"

Roman flinched a little at the sound of the pounding. They may need Triple H's help to find Seth, and Dean pounding on his door wasn't the best way to start the conversation. Dean raised his fist to pound on the door again, but Roman caught it, shaking his head slightly. Dean glared at him, but lowered his fist, settling on tapping his hand against his leg instead.

When the door opened, an annoyed Triple H stood in the doorway. "Can I help you boys?" he asked.

"Seth's been taken, we need to fin–," Roman was cut off as an angry Dean suddenly stepped in front of him. "We know you have him! Give us our brother back!" Dean said furiously, barely keeping the fist he had clinched at his side from connecting with Hunter's face.

Hunter raised his hands in mock surrender as he said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't know what you're talking about. I've been here all day setting up the arena."

"Listen Hunter, someone took Seth and said that he'd be here at the arena sometime this afternoon. You have cameras everywhere. Have you seen him?" Roman asked much more calmly than Dean had.

"No I haven't. However, I will inform all of my crew to keep an eye out for him and report to me immediately if they see him. For now, I would suggest that you stop harassing my employees...yes, I do know about that Dean," he said to Dean's look of mock innocence, "and wait around in your locker room. It will make it easier to find you two if we find Seth."

Roman's eyes met with Dean's. Reigns turned back to Hunter, "Alright, we'll wait, but you better tell us if you find something. If I find out that you knew something and didn't let us know, I'll–"

Triple H cut him off, "You'll do what exactly to the COO of this company?" he asked indignantly.

"Use your imagination," Dean answered with a sadistic smile.

Roman gently put a hand on Dean's shoulder, muttering something that Triple H couldn't quiet catch, before both men turned to walk away. Hunter would give them credit, The Shield really did take the whole 'brotherhood' thing to heart. It wasn't just a gimmick for these three, it was literally a way of life; they felt that they were brothers and defended one another as such. Hunter almost felt bad for what he had in store for them...almost.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Reigns tried his best to keep Ambrose from punching a hole through the locker room door, in a repeat of the last night's burst of anger, after Reigns had quietly read aloud a note that they had found taped to the door. Immediately both men knew it was in the same handwriting as the note from the night before. Even before reading it, Roman had felt Dean coil next to him, the embodiment of angry energy ready to strike. Roman read softly, "'_Change of plans. Watch the show tonight, and you'll find your brother.'_"

Dean cursed at everything and everyone in the vicinity, finally settling on kicking a hole in one of the black storage boxes that littered the arena, which started a whole new wave of curses.

Swinging open the locker room door, Roman immediately felt his stomach turn at what he saw sitting on one of the benches. Seeing his partner's odd reaction to the strange mask, Dean looked questioningly at Roman, "Scared of sheep Rome?" As he asked, Dean studied the mask more closely, and though it had been harder to make out in just the soft glow of the flashlight, it was unmistakably a twin to the mask they'd found taped to their bathroom mirror the night before. Dean had been so furious that night that he hadn't even thought to ask Roman about the mask that came with the note.

"Uh, Rome, I think that sheep's stocking us," Ambrose said, trying to put his partner, and admittedly himself, more at ease.

Reigns shook his head in frustration at coming face to face once more with the strange mask, and he filled Dean in on what Seth had told him the night before after Dean had stormed out of their hotel room to get ice. Dean looked at the ground, suddenly feeling bad for storming out on his friends. To rectify this, Dean quickly walked over to the sheep mask, crumpled up the flimsy plastic, and threw it out of the open locker room door and into the hallway, slamming their door shut for good measure. "There, problem solved," he said, quiet proud of himself. Roman chuckled, but the color that had drained from his face earlier still refused to come back.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

They had stayed glued to the monitor in their locker room all evening, even as they changed into their ring gear. However, they'd yet to see the sign that the note taped to their door had promised. Both men grew more and more agitated. The more annoyed Roman got, the more he sat quietly and flexed his hands into fists. The more aggravated and twitchy Dean grew, the faster he paced, and the more his fingers drumming on anything they could reach.

It wasn't until the end of the show, that Triple H emerged on the stage with mic in hand. He walked down the ramp and into the ring, knowing the entire time that Roman and Dean weren't taking their eyes off of him for a second.

Dean was a blur of motion with Roman right behind him as both men, reaching the limits of their patience, stormed out of the room and towards the ring. As they marched, they could hear the echoes of Triple H's voice as it ricocheted around the large arena, but distinct words were hard to make out. The only words they could really hear were "Rollins" and "The Shield." During their march, a frazzled looking stagehand ran up to them, barely able to breathe out his words, "Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Reigns? I was sent to find you."

"Well, you have," Roman said plainly.

"Triple H wants you both out in the ring in five minutes. You're supposed to wait for his cue."

Both men nodded their understanding and marched to take their place at the top of the aisle they always descended from. Dean hopped from foot to foot, no longer able to stay still no matter how hard he tried. As promised, The Shield's entrance music began to play, and both men felt relief at finally having something to do other than sit and wait.

As they began their descent towards the ring, Dean almost fell down the steps in surprise as he looked up and saw Seth standing next to Evolution, refusing to look up and watch his brothers' approach. "Keep moving," Reigns said in a low voice close to Dean's back. Dean gave a slight nod and continued down, hardly able to stop himself from taking three steps at a time just to get to Seth faster. Jumping over the barricade, both men eyed Seth with a look of concern; their teammate's cuts and bruises were notably worse than they'd been the night before. Seth stood stone-still the entire time his friends had approached. He seemed to choose instead, to try to stare a hole into the canvas of the ring.

Dean began bounding up the steel steps to enter the ring, but he was suddenly brought to a jerking halt by Roman's firm hand on his shoulder. One of the benefits of having been a team for so long, was the lack of words the men needed with one another in order to make a point. This talent the three men had developed came in handy again as Dean turned, looked at Roman, then followed the big man's gaze back into the ring. He was glad that Reigns had brought him up short, as he finally noticed that Triple H had one hand on a sledgehammer, while the other grasped Seth's hair, and both Batista and Orton had steel chairs. Dean dismounted from the steps and looked again at Roman, his eyes asking his brother what the next step of their plan was.

Deciding to take matters into his own hands when Roman didn't provide a quick enough solution to this new problem, Dean extended his hand, and a mic was promptly delivered. "Heard you wanted to see us?" Dean asked nonchalantly. Roman stood next to Dean, trying to silently will Seth to look at him, to give him any hint that the younger man was okay.

"I did as a matter of fact. You came to me earlier looking for Rollins...I found him."

"Great, thank you for that. Now we'll just take him and be on our way," Dean said quickly, moving cautiously towards the ring.

"Not so fast Dean. I said I found him, not that I was going to hand him over," Triple H said smugly. Dean open his mouth to deliver what was sure to be a counterproductive reply, when Triple H cut him off, asking instead, "What's he worth to you?"

Roman's hand, still on Dean's shoulder, tightened so much it was all Dean could do not to let out a yelp. Quickly, Dean answered, hoping to alleviate some of Roman's crushing hold on his poor shoulder, "We'd forget you just tried to use our brother as a bargaining chip, and not beat the three of you to bloody pulps?"

Evolution collectively let out a chuckle. Triple H puffed out his chest as he brought the mic back up to his mouth, "You know what? I'm feeling generous. You can have Rollins back, and I'll even send him off with a peace offering."

Triple H raised his sledgehammer, his other hand still entangled in Seth's hair. Reigns and Ambrose were on the ring apron in an flash, but Triple H, instead of swinging, lowered the hammer and handed it to Seth, telling him to take it and go. Seth looked at the sledgehammer, then at Triple H, and finally, at his two best friends who had their arms outstretched to him over the ropes, beckoning to him. The look in Seth's eyes, as he tried to decide what to do, took both Dean and Roman's breath away. Never before had those bright brown eyes looked so hollow and dead. Dean felt Roman's muscular frame coil up next to him, anger surging through the big man. Dean knew what his friend was thinking, and he was on board with it too.

Both men charged through the ropes and into the ring, aiming to take out the most immediate threat first: the steel chairs. Both Orton and Batista had charged the two men once they'd entered the ring, their chairs held high, ready to strike. Orton, however, was met with a drop kick to the head, courtesy of Ambrose, which sent Orton's chair flying across the ring. Batista, on the other hand, had given Reigns too much time to build up momentum, and was greeted with a spear that left both Batista, and his steel chair, laying uselessly on the mat. Both Shield members stood, breathing hard from their burst of energy. They looked to one another, and with a curt nod, turned back to Triple H who was standing in the corner of the ring, using Seth as a shield. Dean, ever the one to appreciate irony, no matter the situation, couldn't help but think: _that's funny, a member of The Shield being used as a shield_.

"Stay back," Triple said in a low, growling voice. Reigns and Ambrose merely smirked as they made their way over. Both men were thrown off guard however, when Triple H thrust Seth at them, yelling to the smaller man, "Remember what I told you Rollins! Do it!"

Seth stood, stuck between his boss and his best friends. He looked down at the sledgehammer, which now seemed to weight a ton in his hands, and then at his friends. He knew what was expected of him, what he was supposed to do. Only for the sake of his best friends had he even entertained the idea that Triple H now expected him to carry out. In order to protect his best friends, his brothers, he was expected to destroy them. At first, he had agreed to the plan, if only to save his friends from worse backup plans that Triple H had outlined for him if he'd failed, but now, there he stood in the ring, frozen with indecision.

"Do it!" Triple H yelled into the mic behind Rollins. "Remember what I promised would happen to them if you didn't," Triple H warned.

Seth glanced back at Triple H, giving him a reassuring smile, then turned back to his friends, suddenly lifting the sledgehammer over his head. Reigns pushed his way in front of Ambrose, knowing that his big size would help him take the blow much better than Ambrose's smaller frame could. Both men tensed, waiting for Seth to strike. They heard the sickening thud of the sledgehammer, but neither men could figure out why they didn't feel any pain. When they both finally braved a look, they saw Triple H laying flat on his back. Seth threw aside the sledgehammer and turned to his friends. As relieved as they were that he hadn't hit them, Reigns and Ambrose were still concerned by the look in Seth's eyes. The old Rollins still wasn't back yet, and that worried them.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Deciding that now was not the best time to sort out exactly what was going on, carefully and slowly, Reigns and Ambrose approached Seth. "You with us Rollins?" Dean asked, uncertainty muddying his normally confident and carefree voice.

Seth closed his eyes for a moment before nodding. Taking this as his cue, Ambrose carefully snaked an arm around the smaller man's waist and placed his other hand on his friend's chest to stabilize him; Seth looked as if he was liable to fall over at any second. Reigns held the ropes open as Dean helped an impassive Seth down from the ring and up the ramp.

The ramp seemed a lot longer than usual to Reigns and Ambrose who continually glanced back at the fallen Evolution members in the ring. Batista and Orton had begun to stir, but luckily for The Shield, they were more concerned about Triple H at the moment than their escaping prey.

As soon as the three black clad men reached the top of the ramp, the lights went out. Dean tightened his protective grip on Seth as he felt Reigns move in closer to Seth's other side.

"We just can't win," said Ambrose with an annoyed sigh.

When the lights came back on, Ambrose and Reigns were confused. What were these guys doing blocking their way? Who were they, and how did the one with the red beard get that stupid sheep mask that had been haunting The Shield for the past two days?

Ambrose felt Seth's whole body go rigid. "Rome," Ambrose called, inclining his head towards Seth. Roman noticed the look in Seth's eyes, like something terrible was going to happen. Stepping between his two friends, and the three large men in front of them, Reigns commanded in his loud, deep voice, "Move."

"Tsk, tsk. Didn't anyone teach you any manners? I think the word you forgot was 'please'," the round man, drawled.

Ambrose couldn't hold back any longer as he replied, "_Please_ give me a reason to shove my boot down your throat. How's that for manners?"

Dean's words had the opposite effect than he had anticipated. Instead of angering the man, it merely widened his smile. "Oh, I like you," the man said quietly, "seems you're the spirit of the team no?"

"Screw you buddy," came Dean's curt reply.

The man's face darkened for only a moment before the previous carefree smile reasserted itself. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced. Seth, would you like to introduce us to your friends?" the man asked, as if he were talking to a small child. "No? Well fine then. My name is Bray Wyatt," the round man said, indicating to himself and his silly Hawaiian t-shirt. "These here, they're my brothers: Erik Rowan and Luke Harper," he said, first, pointing out the man in the ridiculous but familiar plastic sheep mask, and then the other man with the long black hair.

Dean gave Bray, who he assumed to be their leader, a look that clearly said, _and why should I care_, while Reigns wondered why he'd asked Seth to introduce them.

"Now that you know our names, on to our purpose. You've taken something my brothers and I worked hard to get. We'd like him back," Bray said, eyeing Seth. As if on cue, the two big men stepped forward, intent on seizing Seth by force if necessary.

"Dean," Roman called next to him, jerking a thumb behind them. Dean looked and saw a livid Orton and Batista leaving the side of Triple H, who was now being attended by trainers in the ring, to flank The Shield as well.

"Now Mr. Rollins, I was told to give you one more chance before I ripped the three of you apart. Save your friends, or I end all three of you," Bray said, slowly losing the patient tone in his voice.

Seth merely looked up, no fire in his eyes to speak of. Slowly, he shrugged off Ambrose's protective grip on him, stepping forward from his two friends. Both Ambrose and Reigns looked at him with hurt, confused eyes.

"Come on Seth, we're getting out of here, even if we have to fight our way out," Roman said quietly to his friend as Dean nodded in agreement.

"It won't help," Seth said in a dead voice to match his eyes. "I'm sorry, I was only trying to protect you..."

With that, the men soon to be called the Wyatt Family, rushed past Seth quicker than expected for men of their size, and began pounding on the two Shield members. Ambrose tried to fight off Bray while Roman was left to handle Harper and Rowan. Seth merely stood by and tried to look at anything except his friends, his brothers, who were getting beaten to the ground.

Seth flinched as he felt a cold hand on his shoulder. "Time to prove where your loyalties lie kid," Batista said, handing Seth his recovered steel chair.

Strength and numbers against them, Ambrose and Reigns, with much difficulty, and the help of Orton, had been restrained. The two Shield members had been forced onto their knees on the ramp, facing Rollins who still occupied the stage. "If you want what's best for them, you'll do this," Batista growled in his ear.

Seth took a long look at the chair now in his hands, ignoring the roar of the crowd as they pleaded with him not to do it. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then looked at his friends. He didn't expect what Roman had to say: "Do it," the big man said, echoing the words of Triple H. Seth looked at his large friend with a puzzled expression. "Rollins, if you think you're doing what's best for us, if you really believe that, then do it!" Reigns said, nearly yelling by the end of his sentence. Seth locked eyes with his brother, neither man avoiding the gaze of the other. Seth turned his searching eyes to Dean next, who simply gave him a nod that showed he was with Roman on this one. Seth strode forward, an odd spark back in eyes as he tightened his grip on the steel chair. "I hope you guys can forgive me," Seth said quietly.

The audience gasped as Seth raised the chair above his head and swung down with all of his might. As chair connected with head, Seth hoped that he'd broke something as he took aim and struck the other man. Preparing for a third strike, Rollins felt himself speared from behind. His whole being was focused on the pain that lit up throughout his body as he collided with the floor. One thought floated up through the haze of sound and pain: _it was worth it_.

With Bray now knocked off of Ambrose, and Harper off of Reigns by Rollins' chair shots, it wasn't too difficult, with Orton releasing his hold on Dean to save himself from a chair shot, and Batista distracted by Seth, for Dean to pick up the chair that had been dropped by Rollins when he was speared by Batista. Using that chair, Dean bashed Rowan as hard as he could on the head, in order to set Roman free.

Dean and Roman stood tall on the stage, shaking off their beat down as best as they could. The odds were even now. The only men left standing were Dean, Roman, Batista and Orton. Never believers in fair odds, Batista suddenly reached down and yanked Seth's hair, using it to haul the semi-conscious man to his feet. "Come any closer, and he goes over," Batista said, inclining his head to the edge of the stage. "Drop the chair Ambrose," Orton ordered.

Ambrose lowered the chair a little, not wanting to relinquish his hold on their only advantage in this fight. He looked over at Reigns, trying to get a read on what the new plan was. Reigns looked from Dean to Orton, and Ambrose understood right away.

"I said drop it!" bellowed Batista, moving Seth closer to the edge, his hand now encircling Seth's throat as he prepared to make good on his threat. Reigns held up his hands in surrender as Dean dropped his chair. Suddenly, Reigns was sprinting towards Orton and Ambrose was right behind him heading towards Batista.

Reigns hit Orton with a Superman punch that hurt his hand, even with all the tape he had, so he hoped the impact, if nothing else, had broken Orton's jaw. Dean, though he was fast, reached Batista a few seconds too late; he could only helplessly watch as The Animal used all of his strength to launch Seth off the stage as far as possible, and onto the unforgiving concrete below. This merely fueled Dean's attack all the more as Roman searched for a safe way to get down to his fallen brother now that Orton seemed out of commission.

Dean lost count of how many punches it took before Batista stopped moving, but after The Animal laid motionless on the stage, Dean did a quick check on his enemies. The three new men were starting to come around. Triple H had yet to move or be moved–the EMTs waiting for the action to die down before they tried to move past it–Orton was out, and thanks to Dean, Batista wouldn't be moving again for a while.

Noticing the distinct lack of thuds made from flesh meeting flesh, Reigns called up to Ambrose, confident in his brother's victory without even needing to check, "We need to go Dean!"

Dean heard Roman's call and decided that the quickest way down was to jump. Approaching the edge, he held on tight while lowering himself as far as he could, then he let go and dropped. The sudden impact hurt his exhausted legs, but at least he was with his brothers now, both of them.

"Is he okay?" Dean asked cautiously.

"I don't know, and we don't have time to find out," Reigns answered. "We need to get out of here," the big man said as he moved to pick up Seth.

"Rome, we shouldn't move him," Dean pointed out, feeling odd that for once, he was being the rational one in such a crazy situation.

"We don't have time to wait. We'll take care of him on our own." Not waiting for a reply, Reigns snaked one arm under Seth's neck and the other under the crook of his legs, and stood, balancing Seth's dead weight carefully in his arms. Dean felt a small smile tug at his lips, Seth would have killed Roman if he knew how he was being carried out of an arena full of thousands of people.

Moving quickly through the back stage area, Roman carried Seth towards their car as Dean grabbed a pipe along the way, just in case. Surprisingly, no one tried to stop the trio. Stagehands gave them perplexed looks, and superstars showed looks of...was it pity? Disgusted, Roman picked up the pace.

With the car finally in sight, Roman slid into the back with Seth, propping the small man's head on his lap, and Dean hopped into the driver seat, showing a complete disregard for any traffic laws as he careened towards the nearest hospital. _Seth would have so much to complain about right now_, Roman thought to himself. He wondered which Seth would hate more: Dean's driving or his head resting in Roman's lap?


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

All-in-all, Roman and Dean had been lucky in their encounter. A few bandages and stitches were all they needed to get back on their feet. Seth, on the other hand, had slept through the first two days of his hospital stay...at least, he finally slept after his fight with the hospital staff...

On that first night, exhausted and hungry, Roman and Dean had decided to change out of their ring gear. Roman had to admit that he was impressed by Dean's foresight, that he'd thought ahead to put their stuff in the car before the show started taping. Roman wouldn't have thought of that. Once changed, both men decided to grab food and coffee before hunkering down to spend the night at Seth's bedside. They'd expected the mediocre food and bitter black coffee. What they hadn't expected was to come back to find Seth restrained to his bed and looking around like a scared, feral cat.

Leaving Dean to try to calm Seth down, Roman stormed off to ring the neck of the closest hospital personnel he could get his hands on. Charging down the hallway, Roman vaguely recognized Seth's doctor, the man having only come in once or twice to check on his patient. Spotting the livid man, the doctor was already backing up from the wave of rage coming straight at him.

"Sir, I can explain," the doctor started lamely.

"Well it'd better be good," the Samoan said darkly, leaving no doubt what would happen if it wasn't.

"When you two left, your friend woke up. He looked for you, and when he couldn't find you, he flipped and started ripping out needles and taking off wires. We couldn't calm him, so we had to use bed restraints to keep him from hurting himself," the doctor rushed to explain nervously, leaving the, _or anyone else_, hanging in the air unsaid.

Roman glared at the skinny man who he could break in half without effort, and lowered his voice to a deep, threatening growl, "Don't ever do that to him again, are we clear?"

Unable to speak, the doctor simply shook his head before scurrying away.

Reigns reentered Seth's room to see Dean hunched over the bed, talking softly to his friend, the restraints removed. "Dean?" Roman called out cautiously. Dean turned to his friend, worry clouding his face. Reigns motioned for him to come closer. In the doorway, Reigns asked for an update, "What happened?"

"He woke up and we weren't there. He thought we'd been taken, so he tried to get out to save us," Dean answered back, matching Roman's whisper, as they both kept an eye on Seth, who was looking at them with drug-hazed eyes.

"Is it the meds?" Roman asked.

"I don't think so. Whatever Evolution and their new goons did to Seth, it shook him up pretty good Rome. We may be dealing with a different Seth for a while."

Roman nodded his understanding. He trusted Dean's opinion. Roman had no doubt that Seth was one of his best friends, and the feeling was mutual, but he also knew that Dean had spent more time with Seth than Roman had. This was a fact that Reigns tried his best not to be jealous of. Therefore, if Dean had an opinion about Seth, Roman trusted that the twitchy man before him knew best.

Dean had been right, of course. Throughout the stay, every time that Seth finally fought his way out of his drug-induced sleep, the same horror always filled his eyes as he desperately scanned the room for his brothers. The two had learned not to leave Seth by himself. When one man left to go get food or coffee, the other stayed to explain to Seth that everything was alright.

After four days of this, the boys felt that Seth would do better in their care than at the hospital, especially since he had no health issues that demanded special medical treatment. To accomplish their goal, Seth had, during one of his short bouts of consciousness, been able to discharge himself, much to the protest of the doctors. Only because Roman and Dean made such an appealing case for his release–not to mention the staff being tired of Seth's sleepy outbursts–were the two allowed to take their youngest member out of the hospital.

That had all been a few days ago. Now, all three sat in a hotel room, relieved that the heavy drugs were finally out of Seth's system. Maybe tonight they could all sleep without one of Seth's nightmares, of losing Dean and Roman, waking up half of their floor in the hotel.

Finally beginning to feel safe in the hotel room with his friends, Seth began to regain enough strength to put his walls back up again–to be the peacekeeper who always acted like nothing bothered him. Seeing this small change in Seth gave Roman hope that they'd get their friend back after all...that Seth wouldn't always be the fragile man he'd been for the past week. In fact, feeling so confident in his friend's full recovery, Roman gently approached the topic that had been on both his and Dean's mind since they'd approached the ring with Seth standing next to Triple H: what had happened?


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Finally beginning to feel safe in the hotel room with his friends, Seth began to regain enough strength to put his walls back up again–to be the peacekeeper who always acted like nothing bothered him. Seeing this small change in Seth gave Roman hope that they'd get their friend back after all...that Seth wouldn't always be the fragile man he'd been for the past week. In fact, feeling so confident in his friend's full recovery, Roman gently approached the topic that had been on both his and Dean's mind since they'd approached the ring with Seth standing next to Triple H: what had happened?

Seth filled them in on the details. He explained how and who took him, talking to Triple H, and the plan to get rid of The Shield–permanently. Seth explained how Triple H had threatened to fire Roman and Dean if Seth didn't turn on them and rejoin the Authority. When that threat didn't work, when Seth retorted with his own threat to simply quit with his brothers and be done with it, Triple H decided to change tactics. His threat changed from firing Roman and Dean, to making their time in the WWE as much of a living hell as possible. Seth told them that one look at Triple H, and he hadn't doubted the COO's threat one bit.

Roman and Dean sat, quite literally, on the edge of their seats as Seth explained how he'd debated with himself about what to do. Hunter hadn't required an answer in his office. He'd told Seth that since The Shield was all about action over words, Seth could _show_ which side he chose, instead of just announce it. If he attacked his brothers, they would be safe...well, as safe as they could be with Seth's back now turned on them. If he sided with his brothers, their time in the industry would get a whole lot shorter thanks to the brutal matches that Triple H had in store for them.

"But why you? No offense, but I think any of us would have been a good catch," Dean said, finishing with an eyebrow wag and a wink.

Seth let out a tired sigh, then answered, "Because he said I was the architect. Apparently, he figured if he took out the one with the plans, you two wouldn't know what to do with yourselves. He said that if I wasn't there to ruin plan after plan for him, he would have destroyed The Shield a long time ago."

"We're not helpless you know," Dean said, pretending to be hurt by Hunter's assumption that the Shield couldn't stand on its own feet without Seth.

"Well, needless to say, I'm glad he was wrong. You two still did great without me," Seth finished quietly, the implications of his own words sinking in on him.

"Hey," Roman said, his voice commanding Seth involuntary eye contact, "just because Dean and I saved you together, doesn't mean that we can do this without you. Ask Ambrose, we almost killed each other plenty of times while you were gone." Ambrose shook his head eagerly in agreement. Roman gave the jittery man a small smile before continuing, "The only thing that kept us from ripping each other apart—and believe me, there were some close calls—was you. Finding you kept us in one piece."

"See? Even when you're not here you're the glue," Dean said cheerily as he picked at the mothballs on the arm of his chair.

Though grateful for the honesty, the admissions made by his friends only made his own final admission all the more painful. Seth's face darkened with shame as he explained, to the mixed looks of disbelief and understanding, how he'd actually planned to attack his friends in order to protect them. "I was going to do it. I was actually going to do," Seth said quietly, staring at his opens hands as they lay in his lap, "But every time I set up to do it, when I looked you both in the eyes, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I decided then and there that I'd rather go down swinging with my brothers than betray them." Seth's final revelation led to a profusion of apologies from the young man, which left a flustered Roman and Dean to try to figure out how to get him to stop.

"You tried to do what you thought was best for us, we understand," Roman had tried to explain.

It took a few minutes to get Seth to quiet down again, but finally, a comfortable silence fell over the three men. Both Dean and Roman carefully watched Seth as he sat propped up in his bed.

"Please stop looking at me like I'm going to fall apart at any minute," Seth said in annoyance.

Dean smiled, _yup, Seth's starting to feel better_.

Glancing between Dean and Seth, and deciding that this was his best opening, Roman excused himself to go take a shower.

"Oh, so that's what that funny smell is in here...I thought an animal had died or something, but it's just you," Ambrose said laughing, barely able to dodge Roman's flying pillow in time.

Once Roman was out of the room, Seth took a breath and peered over at Ambrose who was now flipping through a magazine he'd found in one of the drawers earlier. Roman could watch over Seth for hours and be content to just sit in a chair and stare off into space, but not Dean. Dean always had to be doing something. He loved to read, but he'd settle for playing with a pencil if he had to...anything to keep at least his hands busy.

Seth felt a smile tugging at his lips before it faded at the thought of the looming task before him. He cleared his throat, partly to gain courage, partly to catch Dean's attention. Dean looked up at his friend curiously, ready to help if needed. Seth motioned for him to stay seated. "I'm fine," he said quickly, "I just wanted to say sorry."

Dean rolled his eyes in exasperation as he replied, "I know you're sorry, you've only said it about a hundred times already. What's it going to take for you to understand that it's fine. Rome and I get what you did and why you did it, and we'd of probably done them same if we'd been in your shoes."

"That's not what I'm apologizing for," Seth said, slightly annoyed that Dean was already making this harder than Seth had wanted it to be. Dean held up his hands in surrender, "Alright then, what are you apologizing for this time?"

Normally, Seth would have had something sarcastic to say, egged on by Dean's current behavior, but instead, he firmly settled his eyes on the comforter, refusing to meet Dean's gaze as he continued. This had been haunting him since the night he'd gotten taken from the hotel, and he'd vowed that, if given the chance, he wouldn't lose an opportunity to make amends a second time. Seth took a deep breath and continued, "I wanted to say sorry for the other night, when I snapped at you. I haven't had a chance to say sorry yet," Seth said softly, his feelings of guilt resurfacing just as strongly as before.

Dean's face suddenly darkened. The events of the past few days had completely overshadowed that incident for Dean. However, now that Seth brought it up again, the feelings of pain and loneliness that Dean had felt that night, came back again, slamming into him.

Waiting for some sort of reply and not getting one, Seth risked a quick glance at his friend, only to find Dean's head in his hands. Rising slowly and carefully, Seth eased himself over to where Dean sat. Dean started as Seth placed a hand on the blond man's shoulder. "You okay?" Seth asked quietly, knowing firsthand the memories and emotions that he was more than certain were coursing through his friend's mind. Dean replied in a near whisper without looking up, "I thought you'd finally gotten tired of me."

These few, simple words, hit Seth harder than any physical blow he had sustained all week; the force of the words seemed to knock the air from Seth's body as he tried to regain his composure to answer back. "Are you really that stupid Dean?" Seth asked, momentarily closing his eyes at his own words. As harsh as he sounded, he knew that sometimes he needed to be hard on Dean to get the thickheaded man to truly listen to him. Once again, it worked like a charm as Dean slowly looked up at him, his face growing redder and redder. Seth hurried on before Dean decided to deck him, "How many shots have I taken for you Dean? How many scars do I have because I wouldn't let anyone talk trash about you? How many times have I stayed with you at the bar, protecting you while you drowned out your pain and past?"

Dean opened his mouth to respond, but Seth cut him off, "Do you think I would have done all of that, put everything on the line for you more times than I can count, to just walk away from it all in one night?" Dean closed his mouth, his face turning scarlet, but this time, from his embarrassment, not his anger. Seth continued, "Dean, you and Rome, you're all I have. I need you both. Why do you think I turned on Triple H?"

Dean nodded his understand, but though Seth had made valid points in his own defense, Dean still wouldn't allow himself to fully believe that Seth had yet to give up on him. "I was worried," Dean admitted, his face burning red with shame.

Seth's brow furrowed in confusion as he asked, "Worried about what?"

"I was worried that I'd finally done what I'd done to everyone else: that I'd finally pushed you away," he paused, his face showing how painful this admission was for him, "I didn't want to go back to that place Seth. I didn't want to lose you. You're the only one I know who cares for me...who care about me."

A deep voice from behind startled Dean, "He's not the only one, you know. It's not all an act, when I say you and Seth are my brothers. Seth isn't the only one who cares about you. I do too. Sure we get at each other's throats now and then, and I may not show it all the time, but I care about you too."

Dean didn't know what to say as he looked from Seth to Roman and then back again; a warm smile on each man's face greeted his querying looks. The darkness that had been growing in since Dean since that night, now receded once more, pushed back this time not only by Seth, but by Roman as well. Maybe he wasn't alone in the dark again after all...

Dean gave a small, genuine smile as he asked jokingly, "Is this just an attempt to keep the crazy one in the group happy?"

Roman chuckled. "That depends, is it working?"

Dean paused in mock consideration. "I suppose it is." All three men shared a good long laugh that seemed to melt the tension.

As Seth made his way back to bed again, he smiled as Roman and Dean started arguing about what to have for dinner. Seth pretended to use his pillows to try to block out their bickering, but he was unable to erase his smile. Maybe it would be easier than he'd first dared to hope, to get his family back to normal again.


	23. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The crowd erupted when, finally, The Shield emerged from the top of the stands with all three members. For the past few tapings, Roman and Dean had been on their own, as Seth had been unable to obtain an all-clear from the trainers. Tonight though, was finally the night that the Hounds of Justice were back together and on the hunt once more.

Once the three had climbed into the ring and pitched their speeches, the audience stood in quiet anticipation as they waited. Seth had spilled his guts about what Triple H had wanted him to do to Dean and Roman, while the two men paced in anger behind him. He'd explained everything to the audience: about being attacked, getting kidnapped, being blackmailed, everything. Now, he'd called out for the first men on his hit list. He'd challenged Bray Wyatt to pit himself and his brothers against Seth and his. As the lights went out, Seth felt Roman and Dean draw close to him, each man taking a place on opposite sides.

When the lights came back on, the crowd cheered wildly as the Wyatt family stood at the top of the ramp. Bray started on some crazy rant, and while the fans were enraptured by the man's strange words and spellbinding charisma, The Hounds of Justice stood patiently waiting. Words, to The Shield, were overrated; actions were all that mattered. They waited around, bored in the ring, until Bray finally announced that he accepted The Shield's challenge. The three Wyatts began walking down the ramp, and all three members hauled themselves onto the ring apron in what they hoped was an act of intimidation. However The Shield were left with smug smiles. For all their talk, the Wyatts chickened out and hopped down off the apron as The Hounds of Justice advanced towards them; the three strange men, for all their talk, were not brave to actually enter the ring and pick a fight with the angry Shield.

That was fine with The Hounds of Justice for two reasons. Reason number one: because it proved these new men were all talk and no action. Reason number two: they'd already been informed that their match was the main event match: a three on three tag team match.

As this new enemy shrank before the united force of The Shield, the three men came together, putting their fists out, a physical symbol of their unity. They were brothers in almost every sense of the word. As long as they had each other, it was going to take a lot more than a corrupt COO, his two henchmen, and a trio of crazy men to break them. This was only the beginning of what they all knew was an epic showdown, but none of the three men were worried; they'd make it through if they stood together, fist to fist, united against all challenges.


End file.
